The Buffalo Sabres were down and out, until they weren’t.
While the Oilers looked to have the game wrapped up, the Sabres were able to find the equalizer with 30 seconds left in the third period with Evander Kane hammering home his second goal of the contest to tie the game at three.
In overtime Rasmus Ristolainen ended the game with a blistering shot that beat Cam Talbot to give the Sabres a 4-3 victory.
After taking a 3-2 lead at the halfway point of the third period, the Sabres’ position looked bleak, especially with the team getting outshot 17-5 at one point. But Kane’s late goal with the man advantage on a fortunate bounce off an Oilers defenseman, and a holding penalty on Adam Larsson with seconds left in the period allowed Ristolainen to score the winner on a glove-side laser about a minute into overtime.
“We had six guys battling hard, we got a bounce and I was able to put it away” – Evander Kane on his game-tying goal in the third period.
While the Oilers started slow, the second period saw the teams trade who wanted to play listlessly, with the Oilers taking advantage of the Sabres’ 29th-ranked penalty kill about halfway through the period. Jordan Eberle scored on a scrum in front of the Sabres net on a play that was reviewed, but quickly upheld by the officials. The Oilers pounced again less than two minutes later on a rush led by Connor McDavid and finished by Milan Lucic to tie the game at two.
The Sabres briefly awoke from their slumber in the third, jumping on the Oilers early for some quality chances and an early power play. But after Sam Reinhart hit the crossbar on a slick feed from Jack Eichel, the Oilers connected on another power play to take a 3-2 lead in the third. That looked to be enough until the Sabres’ late magic in the third.
The first period saw the Sabres stake an early lead on goals by Kane and Brian Gionta, but the main takeaway from tonight’s game is the Sabres finding a way to win a game they didn’t necessarily deserve to win.
“If you want to be a good team, you never want to lose two in a row.” – Rasmus Ristolainen
In other important news, Eichel looked better and more explosive than he did after tweaking his injured ankle Monday against the Washington Capitals. He had a number of excellent scoring opportunities he could not cash in on, but he did pick up an assist on Ristoalinen’s winner in overtime. Eichel finished the game with four shots on net in 19:16 of ice time.
The Sabres have taken seven of the last 10 possible points since Eichel’s return and look to keep adding points to their total Friday night against the Capitals at the KeyBank Center. Puck drop is at 7pm.